The Great American Collapse
The Collapse of the USA Kennedy was assassinated in 1955 as a Senator (largest PoD factor for RW!) Nixon won in 1960, but was assassinated on election night in 1964. The house had to vote on a President. Rockefeller's votes however went to Nixon in the end, although technically the votes went to his VP nominee, Rhodes. Rhodes lost the election to Johnson in 1968 in the middle of the Vietnam War. Wallace became the darling of democrats across the country for opposing the war, while Johnson supported it. But segregation held him back from taking the presidency. By the early 1970s, Vietnam was lost and the US withdrew. Johnson became unpopular very quickly, because of the Vietnam situation and pulling out didn't actually make him more popular. By 1972 the country had actually stabilised politically. For the past 10 years every election was sent to the house. 1972 was the first to be a landslide. Johnson refused to run again, or more or less was forced to not run by the party. Which is where Wallace comes in again, with a bit more support from the North and he also dropped his pro-segregation stance. From the 60s-70s the US underwent a series of economic crisis, because of failed wars overseas and a ballooning defines budget. But many saw the historic victory of Ashbrook as a sign of better times ahead. This would end shortly. In 1975, the beginning of the 1976 election, Ashbrook's popularity was through the roof. The economy was starting to get back on track, until Franco died. Portugal had fallen to a socialist revolution 3 years before and the Soviet Union was more powerful and popular than ever in many countries. King Juan Carlos took power and initially established democracy. There was a national election and everything seemed to be running smoothly, until rumours of a communist coup in the capital came along, as well as rumours of a swift Portuguese invasion with the help of South American socialist countries and even some disillusioned communist ones At the time the King was worried but not worried enough to halt the democratic process, until a decorated general in the USA revealed secret documents to the UN that illustrated President Ashbrook's personal plan to invade Spain and restore the remnants of the Francoist dictatorship in order to "save Spain" from the communists and socialists. Upon hearing this the King dissolved the parliament and declared martial law (which is still continuing to this day). Ashbrook's popularity took the biggest dive in the history of American presidents and his allies in Congress prepared to impeach him. Of course he hadn't committed any crime, but even Republicans were itching to get him out of office for anything. As long as they could get a candidate who would win the 76 election. Come 76 And our good friend Jimmy Carter is elected President. Not with a landslide win, but without a house vote (and believe it or not, if you choose the right event options as the American Republic you can re-elect Carter for a second term) Carter is initially popular And so are the Democrats. Now you'll notice by this point independents are starting to make ground. These mostly come from the rust belt states and some in the West, where far left parties have made ground as well. Despite his initial popularity and being elected on a less-intervention platform, Carter engaged in dirty business with various South American groups. Remember this is after Socialists took power in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay. It didn't take long for the links between these right wing rebel groups and Washington to be revealed. Come the 1978 mid terms And Republicans are back, albeit with more independents who aren't exactly cooperative. Congress is starting to get messy. While the President used to be executive, he already feels like a lame duck with Congress failing to pass any proper legislation. Enter the 1980s, when socialist parties are gaining popularity like wildfire across Europe The pro-Western Shah has been overthrown and it played out similar to this timeline, except the Islamists never took power, It was an anti-West liberal republic. Carter is despised for his involvement in Iran and Ronald Reagan goes on to win the 1980 election by a very large margin. However, it's not all well and good for conservatives. While their precious nominee is in the White House, Communists won the Electoral College votes for Oregon and Hawaii, as well as 12 faithless electors in California. The Libertarians won in Georgia, Mississippi, Maine and Louisiana. The Democrats are left with little to show for. And the states are increasingly run by Governors who don't wish to cooperate with the federal government This is seen as the beginning of the end as this is where the USA is rotting from the inside, rather than just having a poor showing on the world stage. In less than a year after his inauguration in 1981, Reagan sees the biggest economic crisis since the 1960s under Nixon. And unlike our timeline, he never turns it around, because Congress looks like this: With the Democrats voting along their interests and vehemently opposed to Reagan and the independent states dominated by the far left, far right and libertarians, the Republicans can't pass a single piece of legislation. But nevertheless, this doesn't necessarily mean the US is doomed to collapse. That's where Europe comes in In 1983 Denmark and various other countries elect communist or socialist governments with astonishing majorities In 1984 the communists win in Italy, France and West Germany. This is the 1984 presidential election No one wins outright and it has to go to the house for a vote. Worried about the communist victories in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Delaware and the 20 faithelss electors in California (8 more than in the last election), Congress decides it's best to stick with Reagan and see how it goes: So it took a lot of convincing for the independents to stick with Reagan But by 1985 Germany has unified under the DDR, the European Union of Socialist Republics has been formed, the Soviets have established their hegemony over Europe and many parts of the world This is the last election the nation ever saw: The 1986 midterms. Ronald Reagan literally could do nothing. He was completely useless as a President. By 1987 his popularity was ridiculously low and there were rumours of a possible civil war. After winning states in the last election the communist party was convinced they could stage an uprising with large support across the country. Whether this would actually have happened is up to debate in Red World's 2010 (and is a fiery debate at that). But nevertheless Reagan wanted to avoid his country falling to death and destruction. And so in 1987 he announced that he would be dissolving the United States, giving every single state governor independence along with their state, rendering each US state an independent nation. He lived on a ranch for the rest of his life. Since the collapse of the United States, many states have banded together. This merging usually happened between 1987 and 1990. Reagan was afraid that rather than a peaceful dissolution, the country would fall into a civil war. Which he never wanted to see. It was a peace over war thing. Thus democracy dies. The military manages to cooperate with the southern senators to form a proto USA the American Republic. The Republican Party attains dominance in the Republic’s congress. With the depression after the collapse they swear in a new President George H. W. Bush. who was considered a God sent by the Republicans. The Republic quickly becomes more and more authoritarian. By 2010 the Republic is an Authoritarian Democracy with the only real competitor against the Republican Party being a Conservative Party that has 30% support. Can the Republic restore democracy in America, will it establish an Reactionary State over America, will the fascists establish their iron fist through the Americas, or will it end up falling to the enemy in the north. Category:Events